The Phantom of Liberty

While walking to his room, a small cranny not really fit to house someone, Henry Simms was approached by the manager, George Ives.

“There’s been another death today…” The manager said woefully. “I think we may need to close down… I’m sorry.”

“What!? Again! That’s like the third one in a month!”

“Yes, I know, I’m sorry, but if the Hotel closes, I can’t lodge you for free… you’ll have to find a job and home somewhere else.”

“But, no one will hire me, you and everyone else knows my past… the only reason you hired me is because of Mother…”

“You shut up about her!” the manager snapped. “It’s not like I chose that to happen! I’m just a man for goodness sake.”

“So, I guess that gives you a reason to-”

“You shut your mouth! The next words I want to hear are: ‘I’ll see you tonight,’ and nothing more. You say anything else and I’ll have you arrested!”

“I’ll see you tonight.”

The manager walked away, leaving Henry alone in the hall. He had always been good, but sometimes he had problems, these problems led to trouble, this trouble led to punishment, this punishment led to this situation, this situation led him to want to die, this feeling led to him to have problems, which started the cycle over again. Henry, of course, being a devout Christian would never commit this act, though he did commit other shameful acts, he did not want his God to add that to his list of sins.

When he arrived at his room,  he lifted up his bed and pulled the Bible out from under it. Here he sat and read until his dim light had gone out, leaving him in darkness to be awoken to his alarm clock at 5:00AM. When he woke up, he would help with breakfast and then tend to whatever needed to be done, then he would go to his room and start the process over, but that morning, the routine would be broken by the death of yet another.

Police were standing in the lobby when Henry arrived, they were standing over the body of the manager, who had been killed by a chandelier. He was told by police that it was an accident, but that it was strange for so many “accidental” or “suicide” deaths to occur in one month. It was their idea to close down the Hotel until the ceiling was fixed and the case of Austin King had been solved. No one had any idea what awaited them in Molly’s room, no one had been in or out of it in two days. No one knew there was only one living person in the room.

It was Henry who first opened the door.

(more to come later)

~ by mastercyclon on April 28, 2008. Tagged: Bored, Fiction